1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to devices for introducing water, especially water vapor, into carburetion systems for internal combustion engines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that internal combustion engines, especially gasoline powered engines, operate more cleanly, at cooler temperatures, and more efficiently if water or water vapor is introduced into the combustion chambers along with the fuel/air mixture. In the past, liquid water injection systems have been utilized to inject water into carburetion systems for gasoline powered engines in order to achieve the above benefits. However, known water injection systems have suffered from various shortcomings, including the shortcomings of being unduly expensive and unreliable and of not injecting suitable amounts of water over the entire operating range of the engine. Since it is well known that pre-ignition or "pinging" is greatly reduced when proper amounts of water vapor are introduced into combustion chambers of gasoline engines along with the fuel/air mixture, with the advent of gasoline shortages and occasional deterioration in the quality and octane rating of gasoline available at service stations, there is an unmet need for a reliable, low cost system for introducing water vapor into gasoline engine combustion chambers in suitable amounts to obtain the above mentioned benefits.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a reliable, low cost system for producing water vapor from liquid water and introducing water vapor in suitable amounts into the carburetion system of a gasoline engine to reduce pre-ignition.
It is another object of the invention to provide a low cost water vapor injection system for gasoline engines which enable them to be tuned to operate more efficiently without occurrence of excessive pre-ignition.